Hemp Journal made an analysis in their report which states that the CBD industry will most likely grow to a massive $2.1 billion in consumer sales in 2020, and that is a seven hundred percent increase from 2016.

If you’re interested in beginning a CBD business, the right time to start is now. With several thousands of CBD products accessible in the market, and new brands are being created everywhere, there’s no time to waste.

What is CBD Business?

It’s a business opportunity that allows you to sell CBD oils and other related CBD products for profit.

Cannabidiol (CBD) oil has become a popular product used by millions of people. It’s garnered lots of attention over the past few years.

Since the demand is huge right now, it means you can build a successful CBD business in record time, if you source your CBD products from licensed suppliers and promote them effectively using proven marketing strategies.

The CBD market is still relatively new, and with that, there are several pitfalls in the way of any entrepreneur who is unsuspecting.

And apart from that aspect, establishing a business can be quite risky and tricky!

I want to share with you the simple steps you can take to achieve success with your own CBD business.

CBD oil has grown exponentially over the last few years. In fact, it evolved from alternative treatment for most people to a multimillion-dollar industry. Right now, the opportunity to build a side business in this market beckons.

Looking at the growth rate, it’s predicted that by 2022 the demand for CBD oils and related products will soar, thus increasing the market size to over $2.5 billion.

In fact, 41% of all CBD sales are recorded on the internet — that’s why you need an online store to sell your CBD products.

With so many people discovering the immense benefits of CBD, the medical practitioners and the government alike are getting interested. When you understand that CBD plays an important role in our daily lives, as millions of people use it to improve their health.

More so, several world-renowned doctors, researchers, and lawmakers have given it credibility and support, we now have a lot of people trying CBD for the first time every day.

You may not have used CBD yourself, but don’t make judgments based on your personal preference, the data can’t lie. Being interested in this industry is a good enough reason to start your own CBD business on the side.

Yes, it doesn’t take so much time and money to open your own online CBD store. You can use Shopify, Volusion, or 3dcart to quickly build a professional website that will inspire CBD users to buy from you.

With any of these eCommerce tools, you’ll have access to powerful features available for starting your online store, attracting customers, getting your CBD brand noticed, and grow your revenue YOY.

If you’re wondering the range of CBD products to promote online or build a profitable business around, let’s discuss it.

This is a summarized list of CBD-derived products that you can successfully sell on your online CBD store.

Ideally, you should give customers the options to restock their CBD products, and also their preferred concentrates as well as delivery methods which could entail several types of vaping accessories.

Make sure you build your CBD eCommerce website with the right software so that reordering procedures will be simplified for the customers — since you’ll be using a subscription service for all the CBD products in stock.

Steps to Start Your Own Profitable CBD Business

1. Understand Your Legal Obligations

Simply because industrial hemp has been federally legalized by the 2018 Farm Bill, and by extension, hemp extracts such as CBD oil, does not mean that there are not important regulatory considerations around the industry for industrial hemp.

CBD was essentially removed by the 2018 Farm Bill from the federal Controlled Substances Act, and also the oversight of the Drug Enforcement Agency.

Instead, it puts the whole of the CBD oil and the hemp industry in general, in the hands of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).

Presently, the Food and Drugs Administration is still devising regulations, which leave the CBD industry in a kind of a grey area.

For now, it has been signaled by the federal agency that they would not tolerate marketing CBD as having health benefits. The agency has also started a crackdown against foods and beverages that are CBD infused in some instances.

The regulatory landscape was further implicated by the 2017 approval of Epidolex, which is a CBD-based epilepsy medication which the Food and Drug Administration approved.

Since the main ingredient in an FDA-approved drug is CBD, making use of it in food products without the approval of the FDA could actually be illegal.

For the operation of a CBD business to comply with the federal regulations, clearer guidance is actually needed, so it will be advised to talk to your attorney to tell you more on this.

2. Create a CBD Business Plan

Irrespective of the business you plan on starting, making a business and growth plan is one of the keys to your business success.

Precisely what your company will do will be outlined in a business plan. It also includes your target market, the major individuals involved, what your capital is, what facilities you need, etc.

In summary, a CBD business plan highlights the problem and what you intend to do to curb it. You can download a CBD business plan template here? Here’s an excerpt example from Holy Grail.

When you have a solid business plan in place, it will give you the chance to build your business as you have planned it, instead of just “getting started” and looking at where it will lead.

This is an illustration — architectural drawings are used in building plans, not by just building a room, then including more as needs are. Most, if not all successful businesses operate the exact way.

If you’re planning on selling CBD products and also producing the extracts of CBD from the beginning, then you’ll be required to make a business plan for hemp farm.

Alongside your business plan, you should also make a growth plan. This takes the greatest goal size of your business and breaks what is required to be done down by the required time frame to reach the goal, and also what resources are required.

For example, if the profit you wish to get by 2024 is $500,000, then the number of customers you require to attain that figure will be broken down by your growth plan, it will also include the timelines of milestones and goals which you’ll need to achieve it.

3. Get a Reputable CBD Supplier

Because you’re a distributor, you are required to get a CBD wholesaler who you can buy CBD products from. Getting a reputable seller is going to be of great benefit to you and also your customers.

To be confident that you’re offering quality products to your customers, here are a few factors you need to consider when choosing a wholesaler:

i). Sourcing: The quality of the CBD can be told from where it is sourced from. Several reputable wholesalers source their CBD from Europe or the US where several experienced farmers have been growing hemp for many years.

The farming practices of any wholesaler who grows his hemp himself needs to be confirmed to know if they’re performing above or at standard practices.

ii). Extraction method: There are a lot of ways people can extract CBD from hemp. A few of the methods make use of harsh chemicals which can be hard to completely get rid of from the final product.

The extraction of the highest standard is the CO2 extraction, though it can be complicated, it is actually a clean and safe method.

iii). COA (Certificate of Analysis): This is a report which confirms the levels of THC, CBD, and some other compounds available in a CBD product.

This analysis will make sure that your customers are getting a pure product which contains the exact thing that is on the label. With any type of supplier, you can go for a third-party test so you can confirm the potency and purity of the product.

iv). Claims: Though there’s research which supports the advantages of CBD, medical claims about CBD cannot be made by suppliers.

You should be aware that any health claims made by a wholesale company about their product are not supported by the Food and Drug Administration. The disclaimer of the FDA should be clearly visible on their website. (Retail stores should also do this).

v). Price: If any product is seen at a price that is incredibly low, be wary of that product. When it has to do with CBD, you receive what you pay for. We love the CBD oil products from Hempworx.

vi). Services provided: It’s advantageous to know the additional services provided by a wholesale business, though this is not an indicator of a reputable seller. Services like private labeling and drops shipping can actually be beneficial to you.

How to Market Your CBD products

Now that you have gotten the right information you need to get started, we’ll give you details on how you can market your CBD products.

1). Get a Physical Location

In addition to your online CBD store, which practically drives sales to your CBD business, you should also consider a physical location.

You can always start from home or partner with someone else. That’s if you’re on a budget.

But a physical location is important.

The very first thing is that any CBD merchant or agent who has a place where their products can be physically sold always have the most reorder rate, that denotes that there’s almost a guarantee to their rate of success.

If it is a pain clinic, an office of a doctor, an addiction clinic, a head shop, a pet shop, or whichever type of business out there can actually sell a CBD product, customers are won over in physical locations way more easily compared to businesses that are entirely run online.

Having a physical location aren’t actually the reason people purchase your product; it is because people need somebody to talk to.

Anywhere CBD users can go and learn about CBD products and usage are always more profitable than companies or agents who are only creating online stores to sell these products.

2). Setting Up Your Online Store

I’m excited about the CBD business opportunity because the avenues to get the sales rolling in are just endless.

There are several eCommerce platforms that don’t allow agents and individuals to sell CBD products, but you can always use 3dcart.

You can sign up for a free 15-day trial with no credit card required. I think it’s great to try out the platform and experiment with the dashboard tools and features.

If you haven’t decided to build your CBD online store using 3dcart, I respect your reasons, but here are the reasons you might want to change your mind:

a). Age Verification Options: Even though there’s no minimum age requirement for selling CBD products, some usage methods like vaping have strict guidelines. For example, the customer must reach the legal age to buy the needed products.

That’s why it’s important to integrate age verification to your online store using the built-in popup confirmation available on 3dcart platform. Or you can use the advanced options available in the 3dcart Veratad connector.

b). Support for High-Risk Payment Providers: If you’ve ever felt skeptical about CBD, you’re not alone. Many people still think it’s illegal or risky, but the truth is that CBD is legal to sell.

However, it’s still considered a high-risk industry by payment processors and you might struggle to get approved.

The good news, though, is that 3dcart allows you to process payments — it integrates with third-party payment providers that accept transactions for businesses in high-risk industries.

c). Easy Tax Setup: CBD isn’t exempted from taxes. But the requirements vary from state to state, and there may be sales tax and a state-specific cannabis-related tax in your area of operation.

When you build your CBD online store with 3dcart, then you’re at peace — because it’ll automatically charge the correct tax rates irrespective of where your customer is purchasing the product from.

d). Powerful SEO Tools: One major challenge you’ll face when operating a CBD business, especially online is the fact that most major advertising channels won’t accept your ad messages and banners.

I’m talking about Facebook, Google, Instagram, these are advertising channels that are powerful for reaching tens of thousands of CBD buyers. But unfortunately, Google and Facebook will not run CBD ads.

What you need is search engine optimization (SEO). That is, optimizing your CBD website to rank in Google so that CBD buyers who are looking for specific products can find you easily. And 3dcarts helps you will SEO tools to improve your store rankings.

Payment Processors for CBD Online Stores

I told you earlier that not all payment providers accept CBD sellers because they think it’s too risky, but that’s where high-risk payment processor comes in.

An industry is termed high-risk when there’s a huge legal requirement or fraud potential associated with the type of products being sold.

But the good news is that High-risk payment processors are always ready to shoulder the additional risk involved and provide payment processing for CBD online stores and other businesses in these industries.

How to Promote Your CBD Business Online to Make Money

i). Implement SEO (search engine optimization) Strategy

SEO should be the number one method in which you use in generating online sales. Because of this, it will be of great benefit for you if you can study the SEO marketing best practices.

It boils down to optimizing your CBD product web pages for the right keywords, creating unique product descriptions, promoting your blog, getting links from other health-related blogs and CBD-specific websites, and getting local citations and Google My Business listings for your physical store.

ii). Publish Use Content On Your Blog Regularly

It’s necessary to create useful content and also to do that frequently.

Content that is useful and uses a strong SEO strategy will help in increasing your visibility on search engines and attract more customers, thereby increasing sales for your CBD products.

Several wholesalers have been successful by blogging frequently about educational information in which customers are looking for.

Making Claims

When you write content, always have it at the back of your mind that no business that sells CBD has the right to make claims which treat, prevent, cure, or diagnose a disease.

Don’t mention certain health conditions by name. If you do so, your business will be at risk by FDA way.

Also, mind the language you use on your website. The best thing you can do on this is to not make any claims, and also stay away from using terminologies which would be used for medication.

Create a Strong Brand for Your CBD Business

Branding is a way of establishing the identity of your brand, and also familiarizing individuals with it. In order for you to brand your CBD business strategically, be sure to do these things:

Create your mission statement

Identify your target audience (interest, age, needs, and so on)

Distribute your branding across your business (Uniforms, t-shirts, packaging, Merch, and so on)

Create a simple but powerful logo

Note down the things which set you apart from other companies (benefits, key qualities, and so on)

The moment your business has been thoroughly branded, the next thing for you to do is get people to know your brand by spreading the word.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is it legal to sell CBD online?

A: Yes, the law permits you to sell CBD products online in all 50 states of the US. Although you have to be sure the oil is sourced from industrial hemp and the THC content is < 0.3%. You also need to study the regulations that are specific to your area and adhere to them.

Q: What do I need to start a business selling CBD?

A: You first need to register your business in accordance with state and local laws. There’s a standard for incorporation in every state, so find out yours and meet it.

Endeavor to obtain all the necessary licenses or permits required by the state your business is located in.

These mostly involve state licenses that allow people to re-sell cannabis products, local permits for stocking CBD products, food licenses if you want to make your own edibles, and so on.

Always learn all you can about these licenses so that you’re in full compliance with all regulations and laws when starting your own CBD business, otherwise, you could face penalties later.

Q: Can I Sell CBD Products on eBay or Amazon?

A: CBD Oils and related products can’t be sold on Amazon or eBay marketplaces. Even though you sometimes see CBD products showcased on eBay, it doesn’t change their rules — CBD product listings are taken down the moment eBay notices them.

You risk losing your account if you attempt to sell CBD. Other online marketplaces also forbid CBD products.

Hence, the most powerful and acceptable way to sell CBD online is your own fully branded eCommerce website.

Conclusion

There you have it, the complete guide to starting your own CBD business. All you need is proper planning and dedication to fully succeed in this booming CBD industry. Use this article as a blueprint when you need a little push.

It’s your turn to build a profitable business based around Cannabis plant, and create help millions of CBD users around the world to find the best products that work.

When you’re ready to get started with a credible and high-converting CBD business opportunity, I highly recommend HempWorx because their CBD products work. Ready To Start Your Dream Job?